US Army: “PowerPoint makes us stupid”
NATO and US military leaders are deeply concerned about the excessive use of PowerPoint presentations at strategic planning and military operations meetings. According to some generals, presentations in the form of slides do not just simplify reality, but make such a simplified approach familiar to perception, which negatively influences decision-making, the NY Times writes . “PowerPoint makes us stupid,” said Marine N. General Mattis (James N. Mattis) bluntly, speaking at a military conference in North Carolina a few days ago. He is not alone in his opinion.
“PowerPoint is dangerous because it creates an illusion of understanding and an illusion of control,” says General McMaster, who is known for banning the use of PowerPoint presentations during a successful operation to protect the Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005.
However, the dependence of the US Army on presentations is increasing, and they are already present in about half of the meetings. Junior officers at headquarters are routinely called the “PowerPoint Rangers,” writes the NY Times, because they are engaged exclusively in one task: the preparation of presentations for his command.
This is not an exaggeration at all: even during the conduct of hostilities, some officers are not engaged in anything other than the preparation of presentations. Their duties include collecting all the information important for the authorities, photographs, facts, figures, statistics, and driving it into PowerPoint. They do nothing more. This was told by Lieutenant Sam Naxoll (Sam Nuxoll) in an interview to the military company Company Command , his quote is given here .
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Last fall, when President Obama convened a meeting on the war in Afghanistan, he was even shown a PowerPoint presentation.
Critics from among military officers say that PowerPoint can somehow be used normally only for displaying maps and diagrams. Otherwise, even a 30-page presentation contains less information than a 5-page text, not to mention the fact that a full and in-depth analysis of the situation can be done in the text, and in graphical form it is simply impossible: something completely unsuitable for perception is obtained .
If you try to reflect objective reality with PowerPoint, it turns out even worse. When General Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of the NATO group in Afghanistan, saw this PowerPoint diagram last summer, which shows all aspects of US strategy in Afghanistan, he said: "When we understand this slide, we will win the war."
PowerPoint presentations are well suited for only one task, and in this the army officers agree. For press conferences. A typical military press conference lasts 25 minutes, where only 5 minutes is intended to answer questions. The rest of the time is taken by the presentation, which the army calls chick hypnosis, writes the NY Times.
“PowerPoint is dangerous because it creates an illusion of understanding and an illusion of control,” says General McMaster, who is known for banning the use of PowerPoint presentations during a successful operation to protect the Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005.
However, the dependence of the US Army on presentations is increasing, and they are already present in about half of the meetings. Junior officers at headquarters are routinely called the “PowerPoint Rangers,” writes the NY Times, because they are engaged exclusively in one task: the preparation of presentations for his command.
This is not an exaggeration at all: even during the conduct of hostilities, some officers are not engaged in anything other than the preparation of presentations. Their duties include collecting all the information important for the authorities, photographs, facts, figures, statistics, and driving it into PowerPoint. They do nothing more. This was told by Lieutenant Sam Naxoll (Sam Nuxoll) in an interview to the military company Company Command , his quote is given here .
')
Last fall, when President Obama convened a meeting on the war in Afghanistan, he was even shown a PowerPoint presentation.
Critics from among military officers say that PowerPoint can somehow be used normally only for displaying maps and diagrams. Otherwise, even a 30-page presentation contains less information than a 5-page text, not to mention the fact that a full and in-depth analysis of the situation can be done in the text, and in graphical form it is simply impossible: something completely unsuitable for perception is obtained .
If you try to reflect objective reality with PowerPoint, it turns out even worse. When General Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of the NATO group in Afghanistan, saw this PowerPoint diagram last summer, which shows all aspects of US strategy in Afghanistan, he said: "When we understand this slide, we will win the war."
PowerPoint presentations are well suited for only one task, and in this the army officers agree. For press conferences. A typical military press conference lasts 25 minutes, where only 5 minutes is intended to answer questions. The rest of the time is taken by the presentation, which the army calls chick hypnosis, writes the NY Times.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/92285/
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